Searching for love

13

Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of bullets filled the air. I ducked instinctively at the sounds as Keith turned around in a wild rage to face the sound of the bullets. The bullets continued to rain down and the sound of footsteps became prominent. His eyes were wild and filled with anger. He grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs. "I'm going to make you jump from this building if it's the last thing I'll do! I need to fulfill this dream and vision! I will not let it-", Keith's voice was halted by a splatter of blood that flew out from his mouth and sprayed all over me. He fell down the stairs like a puppet cut from its string. The red sport where the bullet pierced him seemed to grow larger as he fell. I stared blankly at his dying figure, his wild engaged eyes holding onto mine the entire time. I walked down the stairs amongst the broken debris and chaos of surrender and the few stray bullets. His dead body lay on the floor as an agent stood over him, his gun still held in his arm. The agent turned to face me and said, "Axel Harrison of the NSA. I'm here to take you back home".

"Babe! Get up! You have that debriefing to go to in 30 mins!", Axel yelled from somewhere in the apartment. I groaned and groggily threw the sheets wrapped around me and dashed to the shower and out. I quickly brushed my teeth, threw my hair in a ponytail, and wore my daily attire of black trousers, a white button-down shirt, and a black coat. I made sure my gun and badge were secure before hurriedly putting on my shoes in under 10 minutes. As I exited my room, Axel threw an apple at me and we exited the apartment together. I pressed the elevator key while Axle locked up. I quickly gulped down my apple while Axel fixed his tie and checked his phone for emails and alerts. "I'll see you at the office", I said while we headed to our respective motorbikes. I kissed his lips softly and pulled away quickly before I got carried away. Axel smirked and winked at me before putting on his helmet and dashing away, I followed suit and together we drove the streets of San Antonio.

We scanned our badges in the office and dashed to the conference room. We were going to report our mission with the CIA to our supervisor. Axel and I were in a special unit that combined the CIA and NSA agents and allowed us to join forces and work together on neutralizing thread. Since the NSA did not have any field agents we often worked with the CIA. Axel and I however trained with a number of other agents who were on this unit in self-defense and receiving special fieldwork training at the CIA office. It had been two years since I joined the NSA and about 3 months since I started dating Axel. When I moved to Texas two years ago I moved in with Axel who had been looking for a roommate. One thing led to another and we started going out. Axel and I had been very close from the start and I consider him my best friend. The first time I met Axel was when he shot my kidnapper. Quite a meeting to say the least. It had been a little over two years since that incident with Keith and I was a different person since then. I had been forced to change and adapt and I now accepted and thrived this lifestyle.

To say my father had been pissed when I said I wanted to join the NSA was an understatement. After he slowly started coming around to that idea I was stationed in Texas, which he did not like. He wanted me by his side at HQ, but getting stationed there for a newbie was almost impossible. If I really wanted I could have had my father pull some strings and get stationed there but I wanted to get there myself and work side by side with him based on my own merit and skill. However, life was strange. If I hadn't moved to Texas I wouldn't have been as close with Axel. As of now, I was more happy and satisfied with my life than ever before.

I shed as I put my empty coffee cup down on my table. I had just come out of the debriefing and am supposed to be heading to Maryland in a little over two hours. I was going there for work as well as to visit my dad. Since today was a Friday I would spend three days with my dad and then a week in training. Axel and I would be going together with a bunch of other agents. I sat back up straight and quickly continued filing my reports. Damn, I hate paperwork. I can't believe paperwork was all I did in my previous job and I had even seemed to enjoy doing paperwork, then. What had been wrong with me? I looked at my watch, a little over five p.m. I stretched and decided to call it a day. I was mostly finished and I had to get home and pack and get to the airport by 6:30 p.m. I texted Axel that I was leaving and arranged my desk and said my goodbyes and I was out.

I had packed in under ten minutes and now I had nothing to do. Axel said he would pick me up at six and we would head over to the airport together. I decided to change into something comfortable instead of wearing my everyday uniform. I pulled on a pair of black leggings and grabbed one of Axel's t-shirts. Before putting on the shirt I stopped and stared at my reflection. My body was covered in scars. Large cuts and holes made from Keith still reminded me of those horrible days where I had been beaten and bled. I avoided looking at myself for more than a few seconds but today it seems like I couldn't take my gaze away from my reflection. It was easier to stare at my reflection than looking down at my own body and see those wounds. After all the reflection provided some distance and illusion. I stared at my blue eyes that had once been soft and filled with wonder. Now they were hard as ice and forever observant. My face was now sharp and hard. How had I changed so much in a simple two years? But what I had experienced was something people didn't experience in their entire life. I was shaken out of my thoughts at the sound of the front door opening. I quickly pulled on my shirt and stepped away from the mirror.

Axel smiled when he saw me and gave a quick kiss on the cheek. "Give me a minute, lemme get ready and I'll meet you downstairs in the cab. It's already waiting, my bag is already in there, put yours in too". I nodded and grabbed my bag and went downstairs. I had just put my bag in and was on my phone replying to emails when Axel entered. "We're ready to go", he said to the driver. Axel was definitely someone I would have never thought I would be in a relationship with. We were both very different from each other but he had always been there for me. He had short blond hair and several piercings. One on his lip, three on his ears, and one on his eyebrow. He usually wears them to work except for important meetings like today. He also had several tattoos on his back and arms. I used to joke around that while he was decorated with tattoos I was decorated with scars. Needless to say, he didn't appreciate that joke. He was very sensitive about me making any sort of jokes or making light of the situation we had first met in. After all he was the one who had seen me in my worst. He was also my first, my first boyfriend, my first friend, and my first everything. I treasured my time with him and truly cherished him. I laid my head on his shoulder and gazed up at him through my lashes as we sat in the car. Axel, who was still glued to his phone, emailing his supervisor pulled me closer with one hand and we sat that way until we reached the airport.